ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys - Bluegrass musicians
The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys is made up of 11-year-old banjo sensation Jonny Mizzone and his brothers Robbie, 14, on fiddle, and Tommy, 15, on guitar.

Why you should listen

These days your kid can get famous on YouTube for having water sprayed at him, for being duped about his Halloween candy, and for being high off laughing gas. But what if your 8-year-old gets famous on the Internet for being an absolute genius on the banjo? So goes the story of Jonny Mizzone, who first became a YouTube sensation in early 2011 for videos of him and his brothers tearing it up playing Earl Scruggs's Flint Hill Special. It wasn't long before the press started calling.

Now Jonny, Robbie (fiddle) and Tommy (guitar), known as the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, are 11, 14 and 15 respectively. In 2011 alone they got calls from The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and in the summer of 2011 they appeared as musical guests on The Late Show with David Letterman and NBC’s Today Show.

While the trio grew up in New Jersey -- which is known more for rock music than for bluegrass -- they fell in love with the unique sounds of J.D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, Clarence White and Earl Scruggs after some creative YouTube searching. Now, having become sensations on the platform themselves, the trio has accumulated more than 17 million video views. Their first album, America’s Music, was released in September 2011 and charted top eight on the Billboard Bluegrass Album Chart. In October 2012 they released their second album, The Farthest Horizon, which cracked the top three. The group is already at work on their next album.

More profile about the speaker
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys | Speaker | TED.com
TED2013

Sleepy Man Banjo Boys: Bluegrass virtuosity from ... New Jersey?

Sleepy Man Banjo Boys: Virtuoze bluegrass uit ... New Jersey?

Filmed:
7,302,577 views

De broers Jonny, Robbie en Tommy Mizzone, allemaal minder dan 16 jaar, uit New Jersey, een Amerikaanse staat, beter bekend van de rock van Bruce Springsteen dan van de bluegrass van Earl Scruggs. Toch begonnen de broers op een jonge leeftijd bluegrass-covers en hun eigen composities te spelen. Vandaag spelen ze drie schitterende nummers in drie verschillende toonsoorten waarbij afwisselend de viool, de banjo en de gitaar de hoofdrol spelen.
- Bluegrass musicians
The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys is made up of 11-year-old banjo sensation Jonny Mizzone and his brothers Robbie, 14, on fiddle, and Tommy, 15, on guitar. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:14
(MusicMuziek)
0
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(Muziek)
01:57
(ApplauseApplaus)
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(Applaus)
02:01
(MusicMuziek)
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(Muziek)
02:21
(ApplauseApplaus)
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(Applaus)
02:31
RobbieRobbie MizzoneMizzone: Thank you.
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Robbie Mizzone: Dank je.
02:33
TommyTommy MizzoneMizzone: Thank you very much.
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Tommy Mizzone: Heel erg bedankt.
02:34
We're so excitedopgewonden to be here.
It's suchzodanig an honoreer for us.
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We zijn zo blij om hier te zijn,
het is een hele eer voor ons.
02:36
Like he said, we're
threedrie brothersbroers from NewNieuw JerseyJersey --
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Zoals hij al zei:
we zijn drie broers uit New Jersey,
02:39
you know, the bluegrassBluegrass
capitalhoofdstad of the worldwereld-.
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de bluegrass-hoofdstad van de wereld.
02:43
(LaughterGelach)
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(Gelach)
02:45
We discoveredontdekt bluegrassBluegrass a fewweinig yearsjaar agogeleden,
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Een paar jaar geleden
ontdekten we bluegrass
02:47
and we fellviel in love with it.
We hopehoop you guys will too.
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en werden er verliefd op.
We hopen jullie ook.
Het volgende nummer 'Timelapse'
is door ons geschreven.
02:50
This nextvolgende songlied is an originalorigineel
we wroteschreef calledriep "TimelapseTimelapse,"
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02:54
and it will probablywaarschijnlijk liveleven up to its namenaam.
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Het zal waarschijnlijk zijn naam waarmaken.
02:57
(TuningTuning)
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(Stemmen)
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(MusicMuziek)
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(Muziek)
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(ApplauseApplaus)
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(Applaus)
05:01
TMTM: Thank you very much.
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TM: Heel erg bedankt.
05:04
RMRM: I'm just going to take
a secondtweede to introducevoorstellen the bandband.
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RM: Ik stel de band even voor:
mijn 15 jaar oude broer Tommy op gitaar.
05:07
On guitargitaar is my 15-year-old-jaar oud brotherbroer TommyTommy.
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05:09
(ApplauseApplaus)
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(Applaus)
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On banjobanjo is 10-year-old-jaar oud JonnyJonny.
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De 10-jarige Jonny op banjo.
05:17
(ApplauseApplaus) He's alsoook our brotherbroer.
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(Applaus) Hij is ook onze broer.
05:23
And I'm RobbieRobbie, and I'm 14,
and I playspelen the fiddleviool.
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Ik ben Robbie, 14 en ik speel viool.
05:26
(ApplauseApplaus)
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(Applaus)
05:30
As you can see, we decidedbeslist
to make it hardhard on ourselvesonszelf,
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We besloten om het onszelf moeilijk te maken.
We kozen drie nummers uit
05:33
and we chosekoos to playspelen threedrie songssongs
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in drie verschillende toonsoorten.
05:35
in threedrie differentverschillend keystoetsen.
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05:39
Yeah. I'm alsoook going to explainuitleg geven,
a lot of people want to know
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Veel mensen willen weten
waar de naam 'Sleepy Man Banjo Boys'
vandaan komt.
05:42
where we got the namenaam
SleepySleepy Man BanjoBanjo BoysJongens from.
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05:44
So it startedbegonnen when JonnyJonny was little,
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Het begon toen Jonny klein was.
05:47
and he first startedbegonnen the banjobanjo,
he would playspelen on his back
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Hij bespeelde de banjo op zijn rug
05:50
with his eyesogen closedGesloten,
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met zijn ogen dicht.
05:51
and we'dwij hadden say it lookedkeek
like he was sleepingslapen.
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We zeiden dat het leek alsof hij sliep.
05:53
So you can probablywaarschijnlijk piecestuk
the restrust uit togethersamen.
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Je kan de rest al raden.
TM: We weten niet echt waarom.
05:55
TMTM: We can't really figurefiguur
out the reasonreden for this.
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Misschien omdat het
een paar honderdduizend kilo weegt.
05:58
It mightmacht have been that it
weighsweegt about a millionmiljoen poundspond.
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06:02
(MusicMuziek)
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(Muziek)
07:39
(ApplauseApplaus)
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(Applaus)
07:43
(MusicMuziek)
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(Muziek)
08:25
(ApplauseApplaus)
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(Applaus)
08:30
TMTM: Thank you very much.
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TM: Heel erg bedankt.
08:32
RMRM: Thank you.
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RM: Dank je wel.
Translated by Christel Foncke
Reviewed by Valérie Boor

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys - Bluegrass musicians
The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys is made up of 11-year-old banjo sensation Jonny Mizzone and his brothers Robbie, 14, on fiddle, and Tommy, 15, on guitar.

Why you should listen

These days your kid can get famous on YouTube for having water sprayed at him, for being duped about his Halloween candy, and for being high off laughing gas. But what if your 8-year-old gets famous on the Internet for being an absolute genius on the banjo? So goes the story of Jonny Mizzone, who first became a YouTube sensation in early 2011 for videos of him and his brothers tearing it up playing Earl Scruggs's Flint Hill Special. It wasn't long before the press started calling.

Now Jonny, Robbie (fiddle) and Tommy (guitar), known as the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, are 11, 14 and 15 respectively. In 2011 alone they got calls from The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and in the summer of 2011 they appeared as musical guests on The Late Show with David Letterman and NBC’s Today Show.

While the trio grew up in New Jersey -- which is known more for rock music than for bluegrass -- they fell in love with the unique sounds of J.D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, Clarence White and Earl Scruggs after some creative YouTube searching. Now, having become sensations on the platform themselves, the trio has accumulated more than 17 million video views. Their first album, America’s Music, was released in September 2011 and charted top eight on the Billboard Bluegrass Album Chart. In October 2012 they released their second album, The Farthest Horizon, which cracked the top three. The group is already at work on their next album.

More profile about the speaker
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys | Speaker | TED.com